Pinball Wizard An Embarrassment?

[Alan McKendree <amck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From: "O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@vtmednet.org>
>
>	>From: Alan McKendree
>	>Subject: Re: Pinball Wizard An Embarrassment?
>	>
>	>>"Pinball Wizard", and the concept of having Tommy become a pinball master,
>	>>is an essential part of both the album and its success.
>	>
>>Which you disapprove of. You think Tommy's success was purchased at the price of abandoning Pete's artistic vision and the  album's internal coherence.>
>
>To a degree, sure.  Does that mean I'm angry at Pete?  No.  Does that mean I'm second guessing Pete?

You're sure coming close.  Stating that PW is his biggest sellout pretty much carries a built-in negative evaluation, given the definition of the term, and it's not much of a leap to infer you think he shouldn't have done it.

>Nope, I don't.  I'm not a writer for a rock band.  But if you have information, in your stated extensive research, of what a Pinball Wizard replaced, I'm all ears.  How was it that Pete was going to get people to follow Tommy prior to impulsively sucking up to a rock critic to assure sales?

My extensive research indicates there was nothing in PW's place before Pete went home and dashed it off.  Pete was going to toss Tommy out there without that thread and hope it flew.

>you're wrong.  Pete didn't *have* to do a fucking thing.  He could have stuck to his convictions and did what he wanted to.

Sure, he didn't have to stick with The Who, he could have become an accountant, but he wanted The Who to have the biggest success possible, and Nik convinced him (without much argumentation, just a simple declarative sentence or two) that PW would help that.

>Are you suggesting that Tommy would have flopped without a Pinball Wizard or the song?  I'm not saying that.

I think that's unprovable, pretty much a subject for idle speculation.

>If you do, you are saying that the rest of the album couldn't stand up on it's own.  Is that your stance?  Well, is it?  The jury wants to know.

I think it's a more interesting work with the pinball thread in there.  Even *much* more interesting.  Given that opinion, I think it sold better because of PW and related songs (and I'm pretty sure you agree).  Would it have sold well enough without pinball to save The Who's career?  I don't know, that seems like another impossible question to resolve.

> > And given The Who's and Pete's wicked sense of fun, as well documented on The Who Sell Out, I think it appealed to him.
>
>So, you're saying Pinball Wizard is supposed to be a joke?  Well, to me it kind of is.  But, I think the joke was missed by a whole bunch of people.

I'm saying it was a new note in an otherwise monotonous (single-noted) work. It was comic in the classic sense of incongruity, but it was raised by the merit of the work above the level of a simple joke.

>You just seem to be much more comfortable with rocks most glaring example of kissing-up to a critic, than I.

Not that you're second-guessing him, of course.

> >You apparently think Pete bought Tommy's success by prostituting his vision.
>
>That could be argued, but only under the premis that Tommy *wouldn't* have been successful without Tommy.
>Where is your "evidence" to support that?

I'm not saying Tommy *wouldn't* have succeeded without pinball.  Are you saying you think "kissing up to a critic" is *not* prostituting his vision?

>Good.  And, it really doesn't bother me either.  My initial point, by saying "it's the embarrassment" of the album,

Not that you're second-guessing Pete...

>is that, TO ME, is seems a departure from the masterpiece that is the rest of Tommy, and has been the subject of ridicule by some since.
>Hell, even Pete has chuckled while saying "Pinball Wizard" in interviews.  He knows it's silly. 

I think we've hashed this out as much as we can. If you think it's an embarrassment, if Pete even agrees with you, so be it. My interpretation makes it a source of interest, wonder, appreciation, and inspiration for me.

> >Nik's specific complaint was that the whole work, without pinball, seemed too dark.
>
>Who gives a turd what Nik thinks?  An insecure Pete Townshend who wasn't sure how this new concept album complete with rock-opera would fly with Jon and Jane Q. Public?

Pretty much, yes.  Not that you're second-guessing a young, insecure Pete, of course.

>I do.  And that's all I've ever said.  It's you who seems to have had a problem with Pete selling out for that price.

Squeeze me?  I'm in FAVOR of what he did.

>Selling out is not the hugely bad thing that the words seem to connate.

If you don't think "sell out" has bad connotations, you're either fooling yourself or trying to fool me.  From my American Heritage dictionary, "To betray one's cause or colleagues".

> >"Kow-towing".
>
>Not in Vermont it's not!

Maybe you ARE using a different dictionary.

> >2) Many who achieve fame by pandering to public lowest-common-denominator go right on pandering to it to maintain their >fame. (Not that I put Pete/The Who in this category.)>
>
>Interesting how you quickly put the disclaimer of "(Not that I put Pete/The Who in this category.)". Like pandering to the "public lowest-common-denominator" to *maintain* fame is not a good thing.  But, pandering to achieve fame is ok in your book, I guess.

You said, and I quote,

>> >Funny how fame releases the artist from the shackles of blatant cow-towing
>> >(mooo?) to the public.

I was just pointing out that it's quite possible to continue to "cow-tow" to the public well after one achieves fame.

And yes, I put the disclaimer in because I don't think pandering is a good thing and I don't think The Who practiced it after achieving fame.  Nor do I think they practiced it on their way up.  I think Pete played the media like a Stradivarius and when he added Pinball Wizard to Tommy it added to the effectiveness of the work without losing the impact of his original vision.

-30-
-- 
Alan
"That's unbelievable, if that's true"
   -- Howard Stern, 5/25/00